A Slowly Thawing Heart
by sannedwich
Summary: Even long after the eternal winter, Elsa is still scared of herself and her powers. Luckily there's Anna to lighten up the mood and try and remove the fear from Elsa's heart. Short fluff. One-shot. Elsa/Anna - Elsanna. Possible wincest/icest.


Anna roamed the through one of the hallways, fingers trailing along the smooth wooden wallboards. Rays of sunlight seeped in through the window as it was just past seven in the morning, and the castle was slowly waking from its collective slumber.

She didn't really know where she was going, simply wandering around empty-minded, her footsteps soft on the carpeted floor.

Having been awake for quite a while already Anna began to feel a bit bored. But luckily for her, the staff members gradually started to get up to do their daily work. One by one they poured out of their sleeping quarters, greeting the redheaded princess as they walked by.

Paintings got dusted off, vases and silverware polished, beds made and windows opened to let the fresh breeze run through the castle. Soon the smell of breakfast being made wafted along to said breeze.

Drawn to one of the open windows, Anna steered to it and rested on the windowsill. The castle overlooked all of Arendell. It's beautiful harbour and the fjord stretching out behind, the bustling merchant square and fluttering flags planted on almost every building. Anna smiled involuntarily. It was still strange to see - no, to feel the castle so open.

After being closed for so long, and after being alone and lonely for _so_ long, things were getting back on track. And most importantly, Anna wasn't alone anymore. After so many years, Elsa was back. It was a slight bother that it took a period of eternal winter and a lot of pain to get her back, but hey. Things were looking up.

Anna suppressed another, broader smile simply thinking her sister, and ventured to the queen's chambers. Time for a wake-up.

* * *

"Why do I have to get up again?" Elsa muttered, squinting at the light peeping through the thick curtains. She groaned and turned around, swinging her feet out of bed.

She stumbled to the window and jerked open the curtains, immediately regretting the decision when the brightness blinded her. Yawning, Elsa staggered off to her closet to fetch some clothes. Nothing too fancy, a casual dress would do. There was nothing special on her agenda today, and, since it was summer, nothing particularly warm was needed either.

For a brief moment the blonde idled around in her closet, deciding which dress to pick, but then opted for a simple black and blue one with intricate lacework at the sleeves. She wriggled into it and looked at herself in the mirror. She was happy with what she saw and walked back out.

Not in the mood to braid her hair, Elsa left it the way it was after a quick brush, free locks cascading down her back and shoulders.

Surely, this wasn't exactly how a queen should look, but it didn't matter. It's not like she was a regular queen after all.

Out of habit she then walked to her bedside table and opened the drawer, revealing her blue gloves. Without thinking she stared at them until she realized what she was doing, and sooner than she could shut it out the voice of her father echoed loudly through her mind.

_Conceal_.

Elsa's eyebrows knitted together and she tentatively reached out to her trusty gloves.

_Don't feel._

She screwed her eyes shut, clutching one hand to her chest. Flashes of all the hurt she had caused thundered through her mind with all the subtlety of an avalanche, weighing her down like a huge anchor at sea. Exhaling shakily, she tried to banish the booming voice in her head and took a big step backwards, away from the cupboard.

It had been a long recovery for Elsa. Even though she didn't lock herself up anymore, it was still hard for her to go through all the feelings of guilt and pain. And fear. Fear to hurt someone yet again. The fear to lose control of her powers once more.

Elsa violently shook her head. She was better than this. The blonde swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat.

_She was not a monster_.

Of course, she had never been, but damn, had she believed she was.

Blinking back her unshed tears, the queen was about to close the drawer when the door opened to reveal her sister. Elsa's head snapped up to look at Anna. Their eyes met for a few seconds, but that was enough for Anna to realize she was walking in on a particular intimate moment.

"O-Oh! You're already awake!" she started, eyes flitting back and forth between anything but Elsa's blue ones, "Oh dear, ah- sorry, I didn't mean to… I'll just go."

She backed up, knocking her head against the still open door. "Ouch! Okay, I'll be off now, see you at breakfast, Elsa, bye!"

"Anna, it's fine," her sister chuckled, "You can stay. I'm just finishing dressing up."

The redhead relaxed and leant against the doorpost, giving her the time to look at Elsa. She looked absolutely stunning in her dress, with her bright blonde hair playfully draped all around her face. Anna liked her hair much more this way recently – ever since she'd seen her sister in her ice palace with her braid down.

Her gaze then fell on the open drawer in front of Elsa, and she spotted the gloves, too. It didn't take long for Anna to put the pieces together.

"Oh, Elsa." She muttered under her breath.

Anna strode towards Elsa and took her hand, which was noticeably colder than her own. Elsa flinched and tried to jerk back her hand, afraid it'd do harm. It wasn't as if ice spikes would burst from her fingertips by the mere touch, but hurting Anna one time – no, two times was enough. But the look in her sister's eyes stopped her.

There was something so... trustful in them that the muscles in her arm relaxed. The redhead gave her hand a soft squeeze, closed her eyes and then brought Elsa's hand to her mouth to press a light, fluttery kiss on top. Anna's other hand found Elsa's empty one and their fingers seamlessly slid together.

"Anna, what are you doing?" stammered Elsa, uncertainty lining her voice.

Getting no reaction other than another kiss on her hand, Elsa frowned deeply. But the gnawing worry that was tightening around her heart slowly disappeared.

The queen watched the redhead step a little closer to her while she proceeded to kiss the tops of her fingers and the palm of her hand as well.

"Anna..."

"It's okay, Elsa," her sister's eyes opened to look at her, "Don't be afraid."

Suddenly, the blonde-haired woman began to realize what Anna was doing. She was kissing the very source of her ice-powers, the source of all the hurt and pain - the hands that had caused Anna to be struck with ice that eventually froze her. Touching Anna was one of the things Elsa avoided the most; purely out of fear.

A slow warmth began to spread through Elsa's hands and she finally fully relaxed. The spots where her sister's lips had touched her skin tingled ever so slightly.

"Anna, please. I might hurt you."

"You won't," the younger girl replied, ceasing her kisses but putting Elsa's hand on her own cheek instead, "See? Sure, it's a bit cold, but it doesn't hurt me."

"A-Are you sure?" Elsa pressed.

Anna chuckled, "It's okay. It's not like you'll accidentally _freeze_ me or something."

When younger woman got a growl and a wary, guilty gaze in return and she let out a small laugh, "I'm kidding."

"That wasn't funny!" the queen said, smacking her sister on the shoulder half-heartedly. Yet, she couldn't hide the smile that was forming on her face. Anna grinned in response, earning her another playful slap on her arm. But she had her retort ready: "Oh, so the ice queen _can_ laugh?"

Elsa did a double take before squinting at the redhead, "Why you little- you're gonna pay for that!"

Without warning, the blonde pounced on Anna, grabbing her by the waist. Before the young girl was able to understand what was happening her sides exploded in a massive tickling sensation. Elsa snickered as Anna let out a surprised yelp that transformed into uncontrollable laughter.

Stumbling around the room to escape the tickle assault, Anna's foot got caught in the rope that held the curtains together on Elsa's king-sized bed.

They toppled over and landed on the bed side by side, panting and laughing.

"Have mercy, oh queen!"

"Granted."

Anna smiled so purely and genuinely that it made Elsa's heart melt - it was slowly thawing, if you may. The blonde opened her arms and gestured for her sister, who immediately understood and positioned herself in Elsa's arms.

They stayed like that for a while, their breathing patterns slowly settling back to normal. Elsa couldn't help but smile as her sister snuggled close to her, the tip of her nose skimming the skin of her neck. It gave the same warm sensations as her hands did before, and even though she was an ice goddess, Elsa didn't dislike it.

In fact, Elsa liked it very much, wishing she could drown in the warmth Anna seemed to be radiating. Her arms tightened around her sister.

"Hey, Anna."

"Hm?" the redhead hummed, the sound reverberating against Elsa's chest.

"I never got the chance to say this to you before, but…" the blonde sighed contently and kissed the top of Anna's head, "I love you too, snowflake."

* * *

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Thank you for reading my very first Frozen/Elsanna piece. I love these two to death and wanted to write them – I still want to write them and I probably will, but what better way to practice then with some fluff? This can be interpreted as romantic or just friendship; your pick. I hope you enjoyed, and comments are welcome._


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